Chapter 572: The Immortal Master Descends
“On alert!”
A soldier’s harrowing scream shattered the brief silence of Huangquan City.
The next moment, horns blared and war drums thundered.
The colossal vessel descended upon Huangquan City, instantly plunging the entire city into chaos, like cold water thrown into a boiling pot of oil.
Well-trained soldiers responded swiftly. As one of Liaolong’s border cities originally planned to resist the Great Wei Dynasty’s invasion, Huangquan City was currently garrisoned with mostly elite troops. Though the soldiers were inwardly terrified by the massive ship descending from the sky, their excellent discipline still drove them to quickly take their assigned positions.
“Archers, nock, angle up!”
An officer’s hoarse roar echoed, his voice strained from tension and fear. Rows of powerful bows and crossbows were raised in the soldiers’ hands, their gleaming arrowheads aimed at the colossal vessel descending from the sky, measuring over ninety zhang in length and over forty zhang in width.
Many soldiers’ breaths and movements trembled uncontrollably.
These elite troops had long prepared themselves for the day they would take the battlefield and clash with enemies.
But they had never imagined they would one day face an opponent so utterly beyond common sense.
More soldiers rushed through the streets, the clatter of armor and weapons ringing out, followed by the sound of hoofbeats from afar.
Several warhorses appeared at a street corner. At the head rode an elderly man with a graying beard, appearing around fifty years old, clad in heavy armor and brimming with vitality.
He was the Garrison Commander dispatched by Liaolong to Huangquan City, Tian Hong.
Tian Hong reined in his horse, raised his head to gaze at the sky-covering giant ship overhead, forcibly suppressed his inner shock, and then bellowed at the sky with a resonant voice:
“Huangquan is a vital border city of Liaolong! How dare you trespass here? State your identity at once, or don’t blame our bows and crossbows for being ruthless!”
The giant ship in the sky made no response to Tian Hong’s words, continuing its descent toward the city.
Though this scene had completely exceeded the understanding of Tian Hong, as well as every official, soldier, and civilian in the city, as a garrison commander, Tian Hong had to hold fast to his current duty.
“Loose arrows!”
The Garrison Commander drew his sword from his waist, pointed it at the giant ship in the sky, and roared loudly.
“Loose arrows!”
The centurions commanding the archers in the city echoed the shout one after another. A dense rain of arrows, like locusts flying toward the sky, streaked with shrill whistling sounds, flew toward the underside of the giant ship.
The ship, over ninety zhang long, still made no response, simply allowing the arrow rain to strike it.
This ferry’s construction cost had already reached five thousand high-grade spirit stones.
Such an expensive ferry would naturally be unharmed by such low-level attacks.
After all, even a cultivator at the Body Forging Realm could withstand a volley of bows and crossbows from mortal soldiers without a scratch.
And in Tian Hong’s eyes, the fact that this round of arrow volleys had done no damage to the giant ship was entirely within his expectations.
“Prepare fire arrows!”
The garrison commander of Huangquan City continued shouting.
Orders were relayed down the chain. The archers drew arrows wrapped in oil-soaked cloth, and the soldiers assisting them quickly lit torches.
Tian Hong looked up at the giant ship. He didn’t rush to give the next order, deciding instead to calm himself and wait until the floating ship drew closer before starting the next round of volleys.
“Ignite!”
When the timing seemed right, the graying-bearded Garrison Commander gave the order.
Whoosh!
The sound of flames rising echoed.
“Nock, angle up!”
Tian Hong continued commanding:
“Loose arrows!”
Like reverse-flying meteors, countless fire arrows shot toward the giant ship in the sky.
But the airborne giant ship remained unmoved.
It continued pressing down toward the ground. The atmosphere in the city grew increasingly oppressive and despairing.
Dead silence.
Only the crackling of torches and the heavy breathing of soldiers could be heard.
Finally, the massive vessel halted at a distance of about ten zhang above Huangquan City.
Then, a young figure dressed in a cyan daoist robe appeared at the bow. From the sky came a booming voice, a hundred times louder than the shouts of Tian Hong and the other officers below, clear enough for nearly all of Huangquan City to hear:
“The Champion of Heavenly Summit Mountain, Immortal Master Su Hongzhen, today arrives at his hometown, Huangquan!”
“Mortal soldiers, immediately sheath your weapons! Do not commit any further acts of offense!”
“This is an immortal visitation, not to be stopped by your blades and arrows. Those who act rashly shall bear the consequences themselves!”
The words echoed over Huangquan City. Terms like “Heavenly Summit Mountain,” “Immortal Master,” and “Champion,” difficult for mortal commoners to understand yet carrying inexplicable weight, hammered down on everyone’s hearts.
Especially in the alley, the plain-clothed middle-aged man who had been running toward his home since the moment the giant ship appeared from the sky, froze completely when he heard the name “Su Hongzhen.”
“…Hongzhen?”
He wondered if he had misheard the name, or perhaps it was just a coincidence.
But Su Hongzhen, claiming Huangquan as his hometown…
The middle-aged man stared blankly upward, looking toward the bow of the massive ferry in the sky. He saw the figure of a man in a flowing cyan daoist robe, with sharp features and a carefree expression in his eyes and brows.
He did bear some resemblance to Hongzhen, who had run away from home nine years ago.
Tian Hong, still mounted on his horse and gripping his sword, looked up at the giant ship in the sky and the ethereal figure at its bow. His lips trembled slightly, and his gray beard quivered along with them.
Tian Hong, who came from a Liaolong aristocratic family, naturally understood what the magnificent declaration from the sky represented.
Not an enemy, but… an immortal.
In the face of such transcendent power far beyond the mundane, all his responsibilities and resistance lost their meaning.
He dropped his sword, dismounted from his horse, and knelt on one knee:
“Tian Hong, garrison commander of Liaolong’s Huangquan City, pays respects to the Immortal Master!”
Seeing General Tian’s gesture, countless soldiers in the city also threw down their bows, crossbows, swords, and blades, kneeling on one knee:
“We pay respects to the Immortal Master!”
Voices of submission rose one after another.
And at that moment, on a wall at one corner of the city, a tabby cat was quietly walking by. It slowly sat down on the wall, gently wagged its tail, and also looked up at the cyan-daoist-robed figure on the massive ferry in the sky.
The city fell into silence.
Only the wind brushed by.